Editor:
It was a lovely day in Santa Monica. I needed to help a friend who had moved out of state get her mail forwarded. She had gone online and thought that she had filled out all the forms correctly before she moved. However, her mail kept arriving at her old address, which is also my apartment building, in the hands of the mail carrier who asked me where she was. I informed the mail carrier that she had moved. The carrier gave me the phone numbers of the Santa Monica Post Office which I texted over to my friend in Alabama. She tried and tried to reach the post office, but no one ever answered. I tried multiple times to reach the post office, and no one ever answered.
I decided to go to the Main Post Office on 7th Street to get information to help my friend have her mail forwarded to her new, out-of-state address. I walked in just after 9 a.m. — opening time — and noticed no one at any of the work stations. So I approached a woman with the blue US Post Office uniform and asked if I she could help me. She walked to her work station where I nicely told her the situation. She blurted out, “I can’t give you her mail.” I had already explained that I did not expect to pick up my friend’s mail, and that I only wanted to learn if I could help expedite her receiving her forwarding mail, mail which had not arrived in over a month even though she had filled out the required online application. I nicely repeated her that I did not want her mail. She continued to become angry and told me that I could not get her mail and that she needed to come in personally. I once again explained that she lives in another state and that I was just trying to help her out. The lady turned her body away from me, looked at the wall to her left as if exasperated, and ignored me. I asked once again if she could do anything to help. Finally, she wrote an 800 phone number and gave it to me.
I wondered why she hadn’t done that in the first place. I wondered why she was so rude and why is she working with the public. This is the US Post Office. They are supposed to want to help us. I have always had good service whenever I needed to use the US Post Office in Santa Monica. I used to go to the wonderful building on 5th and Arizona before it closed. Everyone was so friendly and helpful. This was my first experience at the 7th Street location, and it will be my last. Has anyone else had a similar experience?
